


Dying Darkness

by Danielincrediblex



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Angst and Fluff and Smut, GeniusPhil, M/M, Multiple chapters, ShyDan, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-03
Updated: 2015-08-16
Packaged: 2018-04-12 20:56:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4494420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Danielincrediblex/pseuds/Danielincrediblex
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Its summer, Phil has nothing to do, his friends are way and he thinks he might just die of boredom. That is until new neighbors move in, he meets Dan, a shy boy with a smile that could light up the whole world. </p><p>Or the one where phil is a super genius and Dan, Dan is something else.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Light

**Author's Note:**

> Hi People of the phandom, this is the story i've been working on for some time now. I really hope you guys like it. I still don't have a definite posting schedule since i just started at my new job, and don't have much time to write, If you guys want updates on this story you should follow me on Tumblr Danielincrediblex. Also I don't have a beta so I apologize for any mistakes.

Chapter 1: Light

My bed is always more comfortable on cold days and this of course was no exception, my body enveloped in a comforting cocoon of warmth that contrasted with the chilly air of the room. I stretched my body across the mattress rubbing the stiffness out of my muscles. Wanting more sleep, I closed my eyes, trying to resume my slumber, but I knew it was no use, once I woke up it was rather difficult for me to fall back asleep. 

“Good morning Lucy,” I said still groggy from my sleep. Lucy was my longest running project; I actually started working on her two years ago. She is what people like to call artificial intelligence or A.I. But she was more than that, or at least I hoped she would be. I was currently trying to integrate her to the whole house, placing surveillance cameras and speakers that would guarantee communication throughout the house and, hopefully, the cars.

“Good morning, Phil,” She replied. 

“Can I have an integration report, please,” I asked.

“Integration is complete,” she answered. 

“Can you give me the user’s clearance levels?” I question.

“Nia Lester, Security clearance level two. Elizabeth and Christopher Lester, Security clearance level four. Phillip Lester, Security clearance Alpha,” she confirmed.

“Thank you,” I replied turning my body trying to find a more comfortable position, I, inevitably, saw my clock on the nightstand, eight thirty it read. Mum should be calling me to take breakfast any minute now. 

"Philip, wake up breakfast is ready," my mum yelled from downstairs. I just smiled, she was too easy to predict. Yes my name is Philip Michael Lester, but the few friends I have call me Phil. I sat up, still groggy, but more alert that just a couple of minutes ago. The floor was cold more so without my socks on. I feel like sleeping with socks is a fruitless endeavor, sometimes I wake with one sock on and the other lost in the jumble of my comforter, other times I wake up with both of them gone. I reached into the drawer of my night stand taking the clean pair of socks I set there the night before and once the task of putting the socks on was complete I walked down stairs, not bothering to change out of my pajamas. 

“Morning sleepy head,” mum greeted me, her smile was as wide as ever. I really didn't know how it was possible for someone to be smiling at that ungodly hour, but it was contagious so I smiled as well. “Could you go and wake your sister up, I have to be at work in half an hour,” she asked, it sounded as a request but I clearly knew it was more of an order. Nodding my head I turned in the direction of Nia’s room. Her room was in the first level of the house, but it still took me some time to reach it.  
I knocked on the door trying to stir her from her slumber. “Nia, wake up mums leaving in thirty minutes.” All I got was a muffled sound, which I only assumed to be ‘I’m going’. “Just hurry up,” I shouted as I walked back to the kitchen. 

“I made pancakes, do you want some?” mum asked as I sat down. They looked delicious; they were probably going to be the highlight of my day. Just as I reached to grab my third, Nia decided to grace us with her presence. Her blonde hair was a mess, ends sticking out from different places and angles; her pale blue eyes were glossed over, she still looked drowsy from her sleep. “Hi honey, do you want some pancakes as well?” 

“Yes please,” she answered walking over to the stool next to mine. “Philly, could you please help me up?” She was wearing a face I recognized all too well and still I couldn't help but do as she asked. She started to speak again but I already knew what she wanted. I leaned over and placed some pancakes on her plate and poured some orange juice in her cup. She just smiled at me.

“So Phil, what are you planning on doing today?” It was a simple question really, but it did nothing but bring the impending boredom to mind. School had let out for summer two weeks earlier and I was already beyond bored. Chris and Pj, my two best friends, were at their relatives for the first four weeks of Holiday. There wasn't any other sixteen-year old in my neighborhood and nothing fun I can do.

I groaned, “Nothing, there’s nothing to do.”

“Well you could take Nia to the library, there’s a kid’s book reading today, and then you could take her to the ice cream shop,” she suggested. I looked over to see if Nia was at all interested and of course she was jumping up and down excitedly. 

“That sounds lovely,” I said. It really sounded better than anything I was going to do that day. “What time is the reading?”

“One thirty. Look at the time, I have to go. Bye, behave well.” She said, placing kisses on both Nia and I. “Your dad should be here at about five, if traffic isn’t too bad.”

“Mum, can I…” is all I got out before she interrupted me.

“Yes Phil, you can take the car. Just be careful,” she responded as she walked out the front door. I just grinned.

“Nia are you done,” I asked, she nodded. “Want to play some Wii?” She continued nodding but a smile adorned her face. “Go on then. I’ll be there in a few.” I stood, picking the dishes to place them in the sink. As I turned to wipe the counter all I saw were Nia’s feet dashing to the living room. “You know you’re not supposed run in the house, you could break something,” I reprimanded. 

“I’m not going to break anything,” She yelled back.

“Just don’t expect me to cover for you if you do,” I noted. 

Once the counter was clean I walked into the living room. Nia was sitting on the floor, already playing Mario karts. I sat next to her and waited for her to finish the race. When she did I picked up my remote and joined the game. We played a few games; Nia already seemed frustrated by the fifth round of her loosing. “You know it isn’t fair, you’re like a super computer. No one can beat you in this game, or any game for that matter,” she exclaimed, I just laughed at her frustration. I did, however, have to agree with her, games weren’t really fair when playing with me; almost nothing was. People use the word genius to describe me; I on the other hand, thought myself as a rather smart individual that and having an eidetic memory, gave an unfair advantage. 

“Do you just want to watch the telly then?” What? I might be incredibly smart but I still enjoyed a good show. Plus there was nothing else to do. She nodded. I flipped through the channels, and like every other time you’re bored out of your mind, there’s was nothing to watch so I just rented a movie. It was just another generic superhero movie. It wasn’t the best movie ever but it served its purpose, distracting us. 

At twelve thirty I told Nia to go get dressed, I knew how long she could take and I didn’t want a break down in the middle of the library for having picked the wrong shoes with her shirt. Granted she was only six, but could still be quite the diva when she had her mind set on it. I changed as well, black trousers the shoes to match and a white shirt with a small graphic pattern. The clothes were easy, my hair not so much. Ten minutes of straightening later I finally got the results I wanted. 

“Nia, are you ready?” I asked as I headed out of the upstairs bathroom.   
“Yes, Hurry up.” Funny she’s the one that took thirty-five minutes and I’m the one that’s late. When reached the bottom of the stairs I grabbed my car keys. 

“Ok, let’s go,” I say taking her hand. “Remember be careful.” I closed the door and turned to walk to my car and by my car I do mean my car. I bought it last year. Remember the super smart thing about me, yea; well I liked to dabble in the stock market. I made some great investments and made enough money to buy a new Lincoln with some money left over. So it’s annoying that I needed to ask permission to use it. Parents, am I right?

I walked Nia to the back seats of the car and sat her down on her booster, buckled her up and closed the door. Having avoided the early morning traffic rush, the car ride, to the library, was very peaceful. I glanced up at the rear view mirror and saw that Nia is bobbing her head to the rhythm of the music. I smiled and continued driving; the ride to the library was short. I parked my car and as I shut the engine Nia jumped out, she really was excited. I got out too and chased after her, before she got into any sort of trouble. I cached up to her, before she tried to cross the street, and grabbed her hand, she just smiled and I could tell she was ecstatic, it’s wasn’t very often that she got to play and interact with kids her age, being home schooled wasn't the best way to make friends.

We walked into the library; I could hear all the kids before I could even see them, what I thought would be a quiet book reading was really more of a small carnival. Games and activities were laid out throughout the building with kids jostling about, causing quite the commotion if I might add. I felt Nia pull on my hand and I looked down to see what she wanted. “What’s up?” I asked.

“I want to go get my face painted,” she said with the same pout from earlier. “There’s a booth right over there, can we go please.” 

****

“You look so cute!” Nia insisted but no matter what she said I knew I looked… well I looked cute; no self-respecting teen boy wants to be classified as ‘cute’. 

“How did you convince me to get this again?” I asked. 

“The butterfly looks so pretty,” she insists.

“I’m not saying that the butterfly you chose isn’t ‘Pretty’, but why dint you get it painted instead?” I asked getting more frustrated with her. 

When I accompanied Nia to get face painted she somehow convinced me to get my face painted as well. She decided on hearts and flowers, I told the artist I wanted a peace sign, but Nia somehow managed to conspire against me, and got the painter to paint a butterfly on my face. It wasn’t a small inconspicuous butterfly, no; it was about the size of my fist and to top it off it was right on my cheek. 

“Come on, let’s go get some ice cream,” she said, “you promised, remember?”

“Ok, let’s go,” I said. I was still upset but I would get over it soon enough. 

We buckled up and I drove to the ice cream shop. The shop itself was a small building, just big enough to enclose the multiple refrigerators, the counters and a few small tables and chairs. We walked up to the counter to order our ice cream. I see the clerk was a young bubbly girl about my age, her blond hair was tied in a ponytail her emerald eyes sparkled and her smile widened when she saw us. I could see she was looking at my butterfly painting and I count help the blush that rises in my face. 

“Nice painting, it’s cute,” she said obviously amused. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Nia’s smile as well, I’d get her back sooner or later.

“Thanks,” I mumbled. “Can we have two ice cream bowls, one vanilla and the other strawberry?”

“Of course,” She responded as she started preparing our ice cream. “Do you want sprinkles or chocolate syrup?”

“Both,” I replied. When she finished preparing the ice cream I pay. I took both bowls and lead Nia to a table. We sat and ate our ice cream in relative comfort. I asked Nia what she thought of the carnival, she, understandably, loved it. 

***

It was four thirty by the time we headed back to our house. As I turned the corner, into the street I knew so well, I saw a moving truck parked by in the driveway of the house that has been on sale for the past month. I drove by slower than usual to trying to see the new owners and more specifically to see if they had any kids my age, unfortunately I saw no one, they must have been touring house tour. As I approach my house I saw my dad’s car in the driveway; he apparently got out of work early. I parked the car in the garage and walked over to unbuckle Nia. She ran ahead of me and by the time I made it back inside I saw Nia squealing and laughing as my dad threw her up and down. 

“Hi dad, how was work?” I asked.

“You know, the usual,” he responded. “Cute butterfly,” he adds, I just rolled my eyes.

“Anything fun happen?” I asked ignoring his grin. 

“Not really,” he answered. “Michael wants you to come over to the lab some time to help us with the labs supercomputers.” Michael was my dad’s boss, I met him when I was twelve, my dad was working on an unstable super conducting polymer and he wanted me to help him stabilize the structure, it was the most fun I had in a long time. The lab on the other hand was a top secret government facility where he worked as a leader of a research group that specialized in supercomputing. 

“Yea, sure it’s been a while since I’ve been in the lab anyways,” I responded. “I’m just going to work on Lucy,” I say walking up the stair to my room. 

“I’ll call you down when diners ready,” dad replies.

My room was my sanctuary, it was the place I felt the most comfortable in the whole house. Sure my room might have been larger than the average teen boy’s room and it might have been equipped with the latest tech and gadgets made by my dad and I. But, in my opinion, the best part of my room was that it faced the edge of the cliff the house was built on, giving me an amazing view of London and its amazing sunset. 

“Lucy, open Manhattan project,” I said and as I did the two moderately big bookcases in my room slid to open revealing a clear glass door. I walked in, turning to the left stepping down the stairs. My parents of course knew nothing about his room and what it contained. It was nothing bad, really. The room is was my ‘workshop’, security station and safe room. It was built perfectly into the cliff. There walls were made of cement and screens covered almost every surface. I liked to work on my little projects there. I was currently working on a new solar panel, running so many screens at a time consumed a bit of energy. 

I focused on attaching the back structure, ignoring the world outside and apparently the time as well 

“Your parents are calling you for diner, Sir,” Lucy informs me.

“Thank you, Lucy” I reply heading to the stairs. The bookshelves moved aside as I approached them. “Lucy, Lockdown the Manhattan project.” 

I could smell the food as I step out of my room. It only got stronger as I approached the dining room. 

“Glad you could join us,” mum said in a mocking tone.

“Hi mum, how was work?” 

“It was ok, you know basic, interrogations, paper work and more interrogations,” she replies in a bored tone. “How was your day? Nice butterfly by the way.”

Before I could answer, Nia beat me to it. She informed her of the day’s events, by the time they were done, I had finished my diner. I excused myself from the table and started heading to my room.

“Honey, before you go. I met the new neighbors. They have a son about your age; you should go and meet him. He’s cute,” she finished in a suggestive tone. I groaned, mum tried to match me up with every teen she saw, it was sweet to a degree, but it got annoying. “Just go meet the boy; I’m sure you wouldn’t mind a new friend this summer.”

She was right, I wouldn’t heave mind a new friend; if he was cute that was just an added bonus. I walked into the bathroom to see if I was presentable, if he was in fact cute I didn’t want to look like a mess. I still had my glassed on from the morning and the butterfly still remained on my face. I scrubbed the butterfly painting of my face, combed my hair trying to get it back to a somewhat presentable state and once I did I was out the door. 

It was a lot warmer than this morning, the light of the descending sun gave a golden glow to everything, but the slight breeze made it feel a lot cooler than it would have been, the sky was almost clear but there were still some fluffy white clouds floating about. 

I walked to our new neighbor’s house. The house was smaller than ours, not by much but still smaller, its modern architecture matched ours. Its front lawn was neatly trimmed; its outskirts decorated with small flowers and shrubs. On one of its side stood a, large, oak tree that gave shade to whole yard. I approached the door; it’s a dark blue color matched the palate of the whole house. I knocked three times and took a step back. It was a minute before I hear a shuffling on the other side. My mom wasn’t wrong; the boy who answered the door was breathtaking. His brown hair matched the brown of his eyes. His skin had a light gold complexion. He was shorter than me by a few inches and his shy smile was nothing short of adorable. 

“Hi,” I said a bit louder than I intended. “My name is Phil; I’m your next door neighbor.” I extended my hand to greet him. He shook my hand tentatively then returned it to his side.

“Hi Phil, um… my name is Dan. It’s nice to meet you,” he said. I wasn’t sure but I was positive I saw him blush for a second. 

“It’s nice to meet you too.” 

“I would invite you in but I’m sure you don’t want to see the mess in there,” 

“Where did your family move from?” I ask.

“A little town west of Central London, beautiful town too,” he says almost in a whisper.

“Why did you move here?” 

“Dad got a better job offer here, so we moved,” he answered, averting his eyes. “Want to sit down?” he asks as he points to a bench on the side of the door.

We sat there trying getting to know each other. It was more than thirty minutes before Dan actually looked directly at me, but as I turned to look at him he averted his eyes back down. I, on the other hand, had no problem looking at him and got distracted more than once just looking into his eyes, at first I thought they were just brown, but as the sun moved lower the light highlighted his warm caramel eyes the light illuminating the golden flecks hidden within them. They were beautiful, to say the least, but in that beauty hid sadness, sadness that no person so young should have. 

He’s a very shy person, I got that much. I tried my best to get him to talk; I could only get small conversations out of him, enough to learn that he was the same age as I, but not much else. 

“Well it was nice meeting you,” I said smiling and turned to leave. 

“Nice meting you too,” he mumbled.


	2. Beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dan and Phil go to the park.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the late posting, this was supposed to be up four days ago, but work gave me absolutely no free time. 
> 
> Anyways, thanks for reading. You can follow me on tumblr @Danielincrediblex

Chapter 2: Beginnings 

 

I really didn’t know how I felt about Dan he seemed to be a very closed off person a shy little introvert. I had no idea why I was still thinking of him, it had been two days and still I couldn’t get him out of my brain. I hadn’t seen much of him in the last two days. Nia, on the other hand, has befriended Mark, Dan’s younger brother, rather quickly. The two had become almost inseparable, I’d seen mark around the house and he seemed to be just as bubbly and cheery as Nia. I walked back up to my room, working on the solar panels had taken a toll on me and really it was quite boring as well. Having nothing else to do in my room I walked down the stairs and I was greeted Mark, who sat next to Nia watching a program on the telly. I greeted as well them and walked into to the kitchen. Opening the fridge I noticed that the ice cream so desperately craved was gone. 

“Nia, did you take the ice cream?” I ask somewhat annoyed. I walk over to the sitting room and sure enough Nia and Mark were eating the ice cream straight from the container. Mark at least had the decency to look ashamed; Nia, on the other hand, looked unabashed by the whole incident. “Share some with me,” I said.

“Sorry, we finished it all,” she simply stated, shoving the empty container into my hands. I chucked it back to her, I hadn’t eaten all the ice cream, she could throw it away. 

“Hey, Phil,” Mark said.

“What up?” I replied.

“I’m bored, can you take us to the park?” he asked, putting on what I presumed to be, his puppy dog eyes. Nia picking up on what Mark was doing followed suit. 

I really had nothing else to do, so I agreed. Mark ran straight to the door yelling about having to ask his mom for permission. Nia stands up and heads to her room saying something about changing clothes. Because once needs to wear different clothes to go to the park. I sit down on the sofa and continue to watch the show that was currently playing. It was actually quite entertaining, Bernadette was telling penny about the first time she gained an interest in science, looking through a microscope seeing all the tiny organisms and if she wanted she could have “wiped it all with my thumb”, I was actually enjoying the show.

“Mark is approaching,” Lucy said and right after Mark burst through the front door scaring me to no end, even with Lucy’s warning, with a wide smile on his face. 

“Someone’s in a hurry,” I flippantly said.

“Did I scare you?” he asked with an impish smirk on his face. That boy could give me angina sometimes.

My retort died in my mouth as Dan, the boy with the beautiful honey eyes, walked in through the door. 

“You knock before entering a house,” Dan hissed, it dint fit him, looking angry. 

“Hi,” I said waving my hand. “Is Dan coming too?” I turned to Mark.

“Yea, mom said he had to come and make friends with the cute neighbor.” Mark answered cheekily. Dan furiously blushed; I just grinned at his discomfort. 

“Ok,” I said with a smile. “I’ll go get Nia, make yourselves comfortable.”

I stood and I left them in the common room as I walked away I heard Dan scolding Mark about embarrassing him, Mark just chuckled. I shook my head and continued walking to her room. I knocked on her door waiting for a response, when she told me to come in I stepped inside. 

“Hey Nia, Mark is already here hurry up,” I said. Nia was sitting in front of her mirror still trying to decide what hair bow to wear. “Just pick any of them,” I begged as I sat next to her.

“No, it has to be the right one,” she nearly yelled. “Help me choose.”

“Ok, I like the pink one.”

She nodded and asked me to help her put the bow on. Once I finished I took her hand, dragging her to her feet and walked to the common room. Mark and Dan sat in the sofa; Dan quietly chuckled at the telly, while Mark anxiously walked around the room. 

“Ready to go,” I asked. Mark and Nia shot out of the room, running to the yard. “Were taking the car,” I yelled, chuckling at them. 

“You have a car,” Dan asked quietly.

“Yea, come on let’s go before they come back and hurt us,” I joked.

The ride to the park was as uneventful as one would expect to be. Dan sat quietly playing with his finger and looking through the window, lost in thought. Nia and Mark we fussing around in the back seats, those two could cause havoc anywhere. When I parked the car, the two shot out heading straight for the empty swing set, I laughed and I saw Dan smile as well. 

“Let’s go watch them before they hurt themselves,” I said exiting the car. We walked to a bench near the swings and sat down. The silence that followed was uncomfortable, to say the least, and I really had nothing of interest talk about. So we just sat there, two uncomfortable teens just staring into the distance. I didn't miss the glances Dan gave him and I’m sure Dan dint miss the ones I gave him.

“So,” I said trying to break the silence. “Lovely weather we’re having.” A talk about the weather, how interesting, but it really was the best I could come up with. For being a rather intelligent person I could be quite awkward with other humans. 

“Yea, it’s really beautiful,” he said still averting my eyes. The weather was in fact beautiful, a perfect twenty three degrees. The sun shone beautifully through the tree canopy of the park, creating amazing arrangements of lighting and shadows.

“Last summer was awful, there was nothing but clouds and the few times it was sunny it was above thirty degrees,” I said trying to avoid the uncomfortable silence, I really did want him to talk to me, even if it was just a polite conversation. “How’s the weather where you moved from? You did say you moved from a beautiful town north of Manchester, right?” I saw him brighten at that. 

“Yea, it’s a beautiful town, the weather was pretty much the same as it is here, actually.” It was actually the most had ever heard him talk. His voice was still barely above a whisper, but it was progress. 

“What was your favorite place?” I asked, interested in this town of his.

“Well,” he said, still almost whispering, “there’s this little cliff, it has a beautiful view of the whole town and it has a tree I liked to sit below and read. Sometimes I sat there in silence and just saw the sunset. It was spectacular, the sunset, warm rays of yellow, orange and red covering the whole town and as it got darker and the stars began to appear they waxed the town with beautiful white light.” He looked up from where he was staring and a blush began to spread through his face. “Sorry I tend to ramble sometimes.” 

“It’s really no problem,” I said with a smile on my face. “It sounded beautiful. You know there are some amazing places in this town as well, I should take you there sometime.” His smile widened and I could see a slight dimple appear on his face. 

“Yea, that sounds lovely,” he replied as a light shade of red adorned his cheeks. I liked that for some reason, making him smile, making his eyes fill with something other than the sadness I first saw when I met him.

“You never told me the name of the town you used to live in,” I said, not wanting the silence to consume us once more. 

“I lived in Lancashire,” He quickly responded. 

I was about to ask him how he liked living there when Nia interrupted our conversation. “Phil I want some ice cream, can you buy me some? Please,” she said.

“We’ve only been here for what, thirty minutes? We can go in another thirty minutes, Ok?” My tone was gently but definite. She just pouted and walked away. I just shook my head and turned to look at Dan, he was staring very attentively at me, I just smiled at him. He looked away quickly with a light shade of pink adorning his cheek. 

“So, do you… um, want to go sit under a tree? I feel like it would be more comfortable.” I suggested.

“Yea, I don’t see why not,” he answered. 

We moved quietly, neither of us making a sound. When we arrived at the tree closest to the bench we sat, I laid on my back resting my head on my hands, he on the other hand just sat down and rested against the tree trunk. I closed my eyes, enjoying the calming chirping of the birds. 

“Hey, Phil,” he said bringing me out of my relaxed state.

“Yes,” I replied, still refusing from opening my eyes.

“Were going to be friends, right? I mean were not going to be two guys who have to hang out just because our siblings get along, yea.”

I opened my eyes, blinking a few times trying to adjust to the light change. I looked at Dan; he was the epitome of stoic. His jaw was set his brows were slightly furrowed, if I wasn’t so close to him I would have said he looked indifferent, but I saw the worry and insecurity in his eyes I saw pain there as well. 

I sat up and turned to him and looked directly at him, thinking what had happened to him to be so wary of making friend and why he sleeked confirmation of the fact. I had no idea of the correct thing to say, so I said the first thing that popped into my mind, “of course we can be friends, you just need to tell me more about yourself.”

He blushed furiously. “I’m sorry,” he said, “I’m just not the most social person in the world.”

“Don’t worry about it, Ok. Just know that you can be yourself around me, no need to pretend to be someone you’re not, I want to get to know the real you.”

“Ok,” he responded with a small smile on his face.

It was silent again, but it was different somehow. It wasn’t the uncomfortable silence we had been so prone to earlier; this silence was somehow agreed on. We were adjusting to each other’s presence, measuring up one another. I laid back down and he returned to his resting position. He was somehow more comfortable with me than before, I could see it in his body, he was less tense, less strained. I was happy we were starting this friendship.

The comfortable silence was interrupted by a set of tiny footsteps. “Phil, can we go to the ice cream shop now?” I internally groaned, it had definitely not been more than thirty minutes, but I agreed, knowing fully well how annoying Nia could be. 

We all got back in the car and headed off to the parlor. When we got there we were greeted by the bubbly girl from our last visit.

“Can we have four ice cream bowls, one vanilla the other strawberry. What kind do you guys want?” I asked turning to Dan and Mark. 

“I’ll have cookies and cream,” said mark.

“Vanilla for me,” answered Dan.

“You know,” the girl said turning to me, “you look a lot more handsome when you don’t have a butterfly painted on your cheek.” I turned as red as a tomato, I turned to hide it a bit and thought I saw Dan almost glaring at her for a second, but as soon as I blinked it was gone, leaving me to question the integrity of my contact lenses. 

“Thanks,” I mumbled as I turned back to her, I handed over the money her and started for the table. She winked at me; my face once again erupted in a storm of red, and got working on our ice cream bowls. 

“What was that all about?” questioned Dan as he sat down. I internally groaned, it was embarrassing then and it was embarrassing now and I certainly didn’t need Dan to know about the butterfly incident.

“Nothing,” I replied quickly, “did you guys enjoy the day in the park?” I asked Nia, trying desperately to steer the conversation in another direction. 

“We went to the library the other day,” Nia began, “and Phil got a butterfly painted on his cheek, it looked adorable and he looked so cute.” She really liked embarrassing me in any way shape or form; sometimes I really hated having a younger sibling.

I knew he was trying not to laugh and I appreciated the attempt, but his smile was so clearly visible and I just wanted the ground to open below my feet so I dint have to relive that moment. 

I was about to defend my dignity, or rather what was left of it, when bubbly-girl arrived ice-cream bowls in hand. I helped her pass the ice-cream around and thanked her. I was going to begin my rant on how the butterfly incident could have been so clearly avoided if Nia and the face painter hadn’t conspired against me when the girl interrupted me.

“Hey, here’s my number, you should text me some time,” she said, handing me a card with her name and number written on it. 

“Um… yea, sure,” I responded trying to sound as sincere as I could. I was never going to call her, don’t get me wrong she was very attractive and she seemed nice enough but she just wasn’t my type, whatever my type was, and now I had to avoid that ice-cream shop from now on, great. I gave her a polite smile and she walked off to attend the other customers that had arrived. 

I turned back to the group, Nia and Mark were chatting away like the obnoxious little kids they were, Dan on the other hand was playing with his ice-cream with a distant look in his eyes. 

“Dan?” I spoke, trying to gain his attention.

He looked back up at me, his distant look replaced with a shy smile. 

We talked for some time with me carrying most of the conversation. That is until I started talking about Anime. I swear I knew no one else that liked anime as much as he did. We talked about our favorites, S.A.O, Attack Of The Titans and of course Death Note. I was captivated by all of his ideas; it was funny that sometimes the quietest individuals have the most to say. 

“I mean the show literally started with a Lecture on fascism,” I said, in a more than frustrated tone. “I mean fascism is just the astheticization of politics.” 

“Thank you, I thought I was the only one.” He replied happily.

“I mean the destructiveness of war proves that society has not been mature, and still is not mature enough to incorporate technology as an organ and in Kill La Kill the uniforms are ot simply aesthetic or an ornament it’s also technology,” I continue returning to our previous topic on the shows warning on wearable technology. 

“Can we just go home now, we’ve been sitting here for hours,” Nia complains budding into our conversation. 

“Don’t be dramatic it hasn’t been hours,” I said reaching for my phone. My cheeks burn when I see the time for in fact it has been hours, Three hours to be exact. “Ops, we should get going.”

“Yea, kind of lost track,” he replied smiling, not just his shy smile, a full-on smile, I didn’t even know he had dimples but they are adorable none the less.

The car ride was filled with a lot more of anime discussions, playful debates and some general banter.

I dropped them off at their house, Dan promising to continue our discussion sometime soon.


End file.
